


Introduction to the Emotional Highs and Lows of Paintball

by mysteriousnight



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Friends to Lovers, Lesbian Annie, M/M, Paintball, no pierce because i dont fuck with him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25476634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysteriousnight/pseuds/mysteriousnight
Summary: The study group goes to play paintball, but it soon becomes more than just another paintball game as people confront their feelings and come to terms with who they are.
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 4
Kudos: 89





	Introduction to the Emotional Highs and Lows of Paintball

**Author's Note:**

> This really isn't an important detail, but I'm going to include it nonetheless. So when I first watched Community, back in 2013, I read this one troy/abed fic, and when i rewatched the show this year, I kept thinking about that fic. I barely remembered it, only that it involved paintball or laser tag and trees in some sort of way. I looked through the whole Community tag, trying to find this fic, but when I couldn't find it, I resigned to just write my own based off of the small details I remember about it.
> 
> Rest in peace that troy/abed fic, I will never forget you.

“Okay, so you’re just going to make another right up here and then we’re there.” Troy said, leaning forwards from the backseat. His hand waved by Jeff’s face as he pointed the directions. Jeff, having already heard the directions once from Abed, once from Annie, three separate times from Troy, and looked them up himself, knew exactly where the place was. Despite telling the five other people in his car exactly that, Troy still insisted on giving step by step directions along the way. Thankfully Shirley insisted on sitting in the front, or else Jeff would have been worried about Troy grabbing the steering wheel at each turn. 

Jeff turned at the intersection and pulled into a parking lot that sat in front of a large, warehouse type building. No other buildings stood on the road for as far as they could see, just unpopulated roads with the occasional car passing by from time to time. He parked the car and looked at the building, which loomed over them with its beige hulking form. 

“Did you bring us some place to get murdered?” Jeff asked, turning around to the back seat. Annie looked genuinely scared by his comment, but Troy just laughed at Jeff.

“That’s stupid, why would I want us to be murdered?” Troy asked before gasping, his smiling disappearing as he connected to unrelated dots in his mind. “Unless I am secretly a serial killer and I get close to people by joining study groups at different community colleges and then killing them once I earn their friendship! Quick, how do I know I’m not a serial killer?”

“Troy, you’re not a serial killer!” Annie said, placing a hand on his arm to calm him down.

“Yeah. I would never become friends with a serial killer, those people are horrible.” Britta chimed in, causing everyone to look over at her.

“Actually, you could become friends with a serial killer and never know it. Many active serial killers are never caught, or only caught years later to the shock of family and friends.” Abed said, nodding a ‘you’re welcome’ to Britta. She stared at him in shock, as Abed mercilessly popped the bubble of what she thought she was safe from.

“None of us are serial killers.” Jeff said, inciting Shirley to hum in agreement. Troy seemed to calm down, finally having his faith in himself not being a serial killer restored. “And anyways, if one of us was a serial killer, it probably would have been Pierce in the 70's, luring girls to his mansion and killing them once they realized how awful he is and not wanting to have sex.”

Annie made a sound of disgust. “Jeff, I do not want that idea floating around in my head all day.” 

Jeff just shrugged and got out of the car. The others did the same; Annie, Troy, Abed, and Britta climbed out of the car, thankful to finally be out of the backseat, no longer pressed up against each other in attempts to fit four people in a three person backseat. 

Once out of the car, Britta moved decidedly next to Annie. She smiled at Annie. To Britta, the smile was meant to seem natural, her normal smile, not covering up an ulterior motive. In theory it could have worked, but in practice it was suspicious and clearly fake. Annie gave a hesitant smile back, already not liking whatever Britta was planning on doing to her. She just wanted to play paintball, not deal with Britta trying to diagnose her with some misplaced disorder all day. 

“Hey Britta,” Annie said, as nicely as possible, hoping that maybe what Britta was planning could be over with quickly. 

“Hey Annie, do you know who you’re teaming up with today?” Britta asked in the least casual way possible. Annie almost felt sorry for her, knowing that Britta was actually trying very hard not to be conspicuous. 

“Oh, I don’t know. Do people really plan that out beforehand? I thought it just happens naturally in the moment.”

“Troy and Abed have definitely planned things out.” Britta said, pointing to the pair walking in front of them. Annie didn’t really think that example counted, since what Troy and Abed did wasn’t the best way to base normality off of. But Annie didn’t say anything, just nodded in agreement.

The group stopped before the front entrance. Up close, the building didn’t look any friendlier, nor did it look more like a proper business. Multiple windows were bordered up, and the exterior looked as if it hadn’t been maintained since the building was built. 

“You know, I want to thank you all for inviting me because I know sometimes you don’t invite me or Pierce to join you five on these fun little outings. I understand Pierce because he is old and ruins everything he is involved with, but I am practically the same age as Jeff and you always invite him.” Shirley said to the group with a smile. The others looked at her guiltily, as if caught red handed in their crime. 

“We do invite you places, Shirley.” Annie said. She knew what Shirley was accusing them of was mostly the truth, but she still didn’t like her actions being criticized. She didn’t purposefully not invite Shirley, but she didn’t go out of her way to invite her either.

“What about last week when the five of you went out for ice cream. I don’t remember being asked to join you.”

“Well me and Troy were just going to go by ourselves, but then Annie overheard our plan and insisted on coming with, and then she told Britta about it. We only invited Jeff because he owed me ten dollars so I thought I would have him just pay for the ice cream and call it even.” Abed said while Troy nodded vigorously along. Neither of them noticed the offended faces of their friends. Jeff, Annie, and Britta all suddenly understood what Shirley was talking about: how bad it feels when you find out you were uninvited and unwanted. 

“Guys, let’s just go in and play some paintball. We can talk about how sad we are when we aren’t invited to things later.” Jeff said, ending the conversation. He walked into the buildings and the rest of them followed.

\--------

After buying their tickets, the six of them were ushered through another set of doors that lead to a waiting room. The teenager that was leading them walked to the other side of the room, stopping beside yet another set of doors, and turned to face them. He looked as if he would rather die than be working there. Jeff did not think it was a very good sign of what was to come.

“Welcome and thank you for choosing Phil’s Paintball Games for your paintball entertainment today. What you signed when you bought your ticket was standard safety forms, which means Phil’s Paintball Games is not liable for any injury that may occur during the game, nor do we hold responsibility for lost, stolen, or damaged goods, which include: clothes, cell phones, hair, glasses, or any other object or bodily possession you have brought with you today.” The teenager stared at each of them during a, probably, legally sanctioned pause in his spiel. 

Shirley and Jeff exchanged a cautious look. They did not like this place, and the unenthusiastic teenager was not helping. Jeff seriously regretted agreeing to come to this place, and Shirley thought that maybe she didn’t mind being excluded from things if these were the types of places they thought were fun. 

“The rules are simple,” The teenager continued. “Do not shoot people in the face. When you are shot, please exit the arena peacefully. Physical fighting is discouraged, but we at Phil’s Paintball Games cannot legally do anything to prevent it. If you need a first aid kit during the game, you must forfeit and leave the arena. If you do bleed, we ask you to please try not to get blood on anything, since that is a major health hazard. When you enter the arena, please make your way to the circle of raised pedestals in the center of the area. Once everyone participating is standing on their pedestals, the game will commence. Have fun.”

The teenager pressed a button and the set of doors beside him opened up. He gestured to the open doorway without care. Troy rushed in, seemingly undisturbed by the teenager’s apathy. Abed walked behind Troy, and the rest of them followed their lead. Jeff brought up the back, casting a look at the teenager before he closed the doors behind them, sealing them off.

The area they entered was not what Jeff expected. It was filled with trees and plants and grass, creating an indoor forest. The plants and trees around them were very obviously fake, shiny and rubbery, yet the branches still hurt when moving through them. Jeff didn’t even know that you could buy fake trees, let alone in this quantity, but instead of focusing on the logistics of their surroundings, he just accepted that whoever owned this business spent a lot of money on a very shitty idea.

They followed a path from the door through the trees, leading them towards the center of the area. The trees stopped, creating a circular clearing at the center of the forest. They walked as a group into the clearing, finding the raised pedestals that the teenager had talked about.

Jeff looked around, confused at what exactly this place was. “This is just a cheap knock off of the Hunger Games, isn’t it?”

“Not everything is based on original ideas. Sometimes you just take concepts of other entertainment and put it into your own, ideally creating a nice homage to the original work.” Abed said as he stepped onto one of the raised pedestals. 

“Who cares if this is ripping off the hungry games or whatever you said. We’re just here to play paintball.” Shirley said, patting Jeff lightly on the arm before she walked away to stand on her own pedestal. Jeff watched her, exasperated in the group’s disinterest in just how odd this business was. In a sign of defeat, Jeff threw his hands up and took his own place on one of the pedestals. 

The six of them stood on their pedestals in a loose circle, waiting for the game to start. In the center sat a pile of guns and ammo, the bright colors standing out against the dull, fake green of the grass. The group was quiet, intensely staring at each other, eyes moving from person to person. They were sure the game was ready to begin at any second.

But the game didn’t begin just yet. A group of boys entered: preteens, no older than 12, full of hormones and confusing emotions, ready to unleash some of their brimming rage by firing paintballs at each other and whatever unlucky strangers that got stuck in a game with them. They ran into the starting area, taking up the remaining 6 pedestals. Annie stood up straight, looking around at the boys. She leaned over to Jeff, who stood on the pedestal next to her.

“I didn’t know we would be competing against children.” She said, her voice fraught with worry. She didn’t want to injure any kids, or contribute to a young boy’s rage issues. Jeff rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Annie. They’re just gonna be easy targets. We’re adults, and they are like 10 years old.”

“Hey, dickhead!” One of the boys shouted across the circle, eyes staring daggers at Jeff. “We’re 12 and we’re going to kick all your fucking asses.” The boy flipped him off, prompting his friends to do the same, directing them at the rest of the group. Britta gasped and started to yell at the boys about respect, but it was drowned out by an announcement from an overhead speaker.

“THE GAME WILL COMMENCE IN 5… 4… 3… 1”

There was a momentary confusion from the 12 people in the arena at the missing count of 2, and Jeff suddenly understood why the admission was only five dollars: the place was an utter shit hole. Before he could complain to Troy about dragging them out here to a shitty, run down business that was blatantly ripping off the Hunger Games in the worst way possible, the people around Jeff began to run forward, moving in a mob towards the weapons. Jeff swallowed all grievances and ran into the fray, driving into the mess of people fighting for weapons and ammo. He was going to make those five dollars money well spent.

After the mob broke apart, nothing was left in the pile, all ammo taken by greedy hands, weapons stockpiled, hanging from belts, stuffed in pockets. Though the stakes could not be any lower, all twelve people were putting their all into the game. Troy and Abed went into the trees in the north, running from the main conflict early, yet still loaded up with ammo, and each wielding two guns. 

Britta all but pried Annie away from the weapons pile after she saw her elbow one of the kids in the face when he tried to grab the gun she was going for. Before Britta pulled her away, Annie was able to grab that paintball gun she wanted, swinging it’s strap over her shoulder as she piled ammo into her pockets. Britta, however more worried about completing her plan and pairing up with Annie, only grabbed a single gun and no extra ammo. She, frankly, didn’t care too much, because she felt like her ulterior motives were more important than the paintball game. And she figured that if she was paired up with Annie, then Annie would protect the both of them anyways.

The six 12 year old boys split up into two groups of 3, the groups moving in opposite directions once they grabbed all the weapons and ammo they could carry. No one fired a single paintball in their struggle for supplies, instead each group chose to retreat out of the central clearing and into the wooded area that made up the rest of the room. 

When Jeff finally made it to the weapons, he was able to quickly grab a gun and as much ammo as he could, until one group of the 12 year olds started eyeing him in a way that made Jeff understand why a rabbit runs away from a fox.

Jeff didn’t run off with anyone. He thought that Britta would follow him, but after seeing her basically drag Annie away and into the trees, he took that as a sign to just fend for himself. He expected to be alone for a little while, eventually finding one of the groups of 12 year olds and taking some of them out before heroically being shot himself. After he was “dead”, he planned on spending the rest of the time hitting on the woman that sold them their tickets when they came in until the game ended and he could go home, hopefully with a new number he would end up never calling back. But that half thought out plan didn’t pan out, because almost as soon as he was alone, he ran into Shirley, who almost immediately shot him.

“Jeffrey! What are you doing, sneaking up on me? I thought you were one of those little boys, who I believe are a little young to be playing a game like paintball.”

“Shirley, we can talk about the ethics of letting children play violent games later. Right now I think we should keep moving because I’m pretty sure some of the boys are chasing me.”

And with that, Shirley and Jeff formed an allyship, moving deeper into the wooded section together. 

\--------

Troy and Abed walked until they hit a wall, confident that they were safely far enough away from everyone to take a second and reorganize. Since they convinced everyone to come with them to play paintball, they had worked out a strategy on how to take everyone else out, leaving the two of them to have a dramatic and emotional final showdown. It was a good plan, but they didn’t expect another group to show up and play with them. That oversight left them with no plan and no time to create a new one.

Abed stood watch as Troy knelt on the ground, taking inventory on the ammo they took. Abed watched the trees around them for any movement, turning his head from point to point at even intervals. Everything seemed still, no movement coming their way.

Troy had begun separating the ammo into two piles when his phone buzzed, distracting him completely from his task. He sat back on his heels and grabbed his phone from his pocket, opening it quickly and replying to the text he received. Abed noticed Troy stopped sorting the ammo and looked down at his friend, whose face was stuck into his phone. 

“What are you doing?” Abed asked, almost annoyed at Troy. He didn’t look up from his phone, which buzzed in his hand.

“Texting Greta. You know, that girl from my intro to finance class.”

“But we’re in the middle of a paintball game.” Abed said. Troy had been texting Greta all week, ignoring everything else beside his phone. Last night Troy was so engrossed in his conversation with Greta that he didn’t even notice when Abed turned off the movie they were watching together. Abed thought he might be jealous of Greta, but he needed a second opinion on what to do next. He had just hoped that playing paintball would prevent Troy from texting her for one day. He was wrong apparently.

“I know, but she just asked me if I wanted to get pizza with her tomorrow!” Troy said, finally looking up to Abed. He held his phone out so Abed could see her text.

Abed stared at the phone for a moment before taking it out of Troy’s hand and tossing it into the trees around them. Troy sprung to his feet, mouth open in shock and annoyance.

“What was that for?” He shouted, forgetting that they didn’t want other people to know where they were.

“We’ll find it later. We have paintball to focus on.”

Troy looked longingly in the direction of his phone, but he was no longer annoyed. He had forgotten the game, and now being reminded of it, his attention became fixated on winning instead. Abed was right, he could reply later; there were more important things to do. Troy looked back to Abed and gave him a small nod, signifying that they were good, that he wasn’t mad at him. They moved in sync as they did their hand shake, slapping each other’s hands.

Before they could do anything else, the voices of twelve year olds came into ear shot. They were coming from the trees, and they were close, almost on top of them. Troy and Abed exchanged a look and both dived to the ground, shoving their extra ammo back into their pockets. Loud, crashing footsteps grew closer, and Troy and Abed grabbed their weapons and fled into the trees, opposite of where the children were approaching them from. 

They ran until they came to the edge of trees before the central clearing, staying under the cover of trees. In the central clearing, one of the groups of twelve year olds were standing in a cluster of three, each facing a different direction. Abed watched them for a while, until Troy tapped him on the shoulder.

“Let’s climb one of these trees.” He said, throwing a thumb back over his shoulder at a tree behind him. Abed gave a nod and they moved as silently as they could towards a tree with a low hanging branch they could easily pull themselves up on. 

Climbing the tree was surprisingly simple. They made it about halfway up the tree before stopping, finding a sturdy branch for both of them to sit on. They sat with a leg on either side of the branch, facing each other. Their paintball guns hung off a strap around their shoulders. Abed looked around him, finding just more trees and fake leaves in his face. Their vantage point didn’t give them a better view, but it did give them a place to wait it out, half hoping that the other players would just take themselves out, leaving them as the winners. 

“I wonder what Britta and Annie are up to.” Abed said, searching the trees, seeing if he could spot anyone. 

“Why?” Troy asked.

Abed shrugged. “It’s a good transition for a narrative shift.”

\--------

Once Britta stopped dragging Annie into the trees, confident that she wouldn’t immediately run back into the fray and that no one was after them, they checked what the two of them managed to grab. When Annie saw that Britta had nothing except a single gun, she half thought about shooting her and getting it over with. But shooting Britta wouldn’t get rid of her; Annie knew that she was wrapped into what stupid thing Britta desperately wanted to talk to her about. Usually Annie could stand Britta like this, almost enjoying listening to Britta talk way too confidently about topics she was poorly educated on, but Annie honestly just wanted to play paintball.

After shoving some of her ammo at Britta, Annie began weaving her way through trees, crouching low, keeping hidden. She didn’t know where the others were, but she was ready to attack. Britta moved behind her, stomping her way through the fake grass, moving branches and leaves out of her way noisily. 

Annie paused for a moment, listening for a sound she thought she heard. Britta took the opportunity to lean close to Annie’s ear. “So have you had sex recently?”

Annie jumped, nearly slamming her gun into Britta’s face in shock. She shot Britta a glare, which quickly turned into a bashful blush as she comprehend what Britta said. 

“Why do you need to know that?” Annie asked, defensively. She brought her gun to her chest, almost hugging it. 

“This is what girls talk about!” Britta hit Annie’s shoulder in what was supposed to be a playful push, but ended up being a heavy handed punch. Annie gasped and rubbed her shoulder, taking a step back, out of Britta’s reach. “Are there any cute guys in your classes this semester?”

Annie just stared at her, not wanting to go along with wherever Britta wanted to take this conversation. She almost wished that those 12 year olds would find them and shoot them so she would have something different to do then let Britta keep talking.

But the kids didn’t come, and Britta kept on talking. “Any girls you think are cute?”

A wave of fear flashed in Annie’s face, before she controlled it enough to just display an emotional mix of outrage and humble embarrassment. Annie knew exactly where Britta wanted to take this conversation, and she needed to shut her down immediately. 

“I’m straight, Britta. You know that.” Annie said, in the most confident voice she could muster at the moment. “And I think it’s a little offensive that you won’t just take my word for it.”

That stopped Britta for a moment, making her evaluate by her own morals if what she did was offensive. She concluded that it was not offensive because she’s trying to help Annie. “Oh please. I’ve seen the way you look at some women. You can tell me! I accept you!”

Annie narrowed her eyes. "Britta, I came here to play paintball, not get berated by you about my sexuality. It is none of your business." 

"Come on, Annie! You were freaked out by even seeing a penis. Don't you think maybe there's something more to that?" 

"I will shoot you myself if that means stopping this conversation." Britta opened her mouth, a single syllable sounding before Annie cut her off, shoving her gun into Britta's stomach. "Do not test me." 

Annie turned and continued on, pushing quietly through the fake plants that surrounded them. Somewhere in the distance the distinct scream of a 12 year old unfurled into the arena. From the sounds of it, the cry was not of fear or sadness, but of fury and joyfulness. It was the sadist scream of a killer finally finding its prey. 

While Britta seemed unnerved by the sound, Annie wasn't bothered. She continued to push through the leaves and branches, her gun poised deadly in her hands. Only after the last echo of the cry faded from the air did Annie stop dead in her tracks, turning around to Britta, who walked directly into her. After a few stumbling steps backwards, Britta looked at Annie, seeing an odd mix of anger and confusion on her face. 

"What do you mean by there might be something more to my discomfort of men?" Annie asked, demanding an answer. 

Britta was genuinely shocked, not planning on Annie taking her seriously this suddenly. But, as she assumed any good therapist would do, Britta plowed right through her shock and began speaking. "I mean, what if you find comfort in repressing your sexuality because you really just don't want to face the fact that you arent attracted to men? I think maybe you know you're attracted to women but just don't want to deal with it so you don't think about that area of your life at all." 

Annie stared at Britta, her eyes wide with fear, yet a scowl still hung on her lips, her paintball gun pointed at Britta. Britta momentarily found herself scared of Annie, but then that fear circled around and became joy, because why else would Annie be so scared if Britta didn't nail her sexuality crisis. 

But Britta's uncalled for joy evaporated when Annie spoke. "That's not right at all. You don't know me, Britta!" 

A smile slowly fell off of Britta's face as she saw Annie's fear had turned into anger once again. In an attempt to fix her bruised pride, Britta said the first thing that came to mind: "Kiss me then, and tell me how unattached to women you are." 

Annie stared at her for a moment, her arms going limp at her side, the paintball gun no longer clutched in her hands, now hanging off the strap around her shoulder, nozzle pointed at the ground. Britta thought she might have gone too far, but then Annie was moving forward, hands slamming into the sides of Britta's face as Annie's lips collided with her own. 

Through the kiss Britta stared at Annie, who had her eyes closed, brow furrowed in frustration. The kiss wasn't good, almost painful in the force in which Annie shoved their lips together, but Britta couldn't help but notice the desperation Annie was kissing her with. 

And then there was movement to Britta's right and Shirley walked into view, coming to a stop as she saw what Britta and Annie were doing. But Shirley only got a small glimpse of the kiss, for when Annie heard the movement, she shoved Britta's face violently away from hers. Annie turned to Shirley, letting out a startled cry, before turning around and disappearing into the thick brush of leaves that surrounded them. 

When Britta was done staring at the space in the trees where Annie ran off, she turned slowly to face Shirley, who had moved closer. Britta couldn't read her face, unable to discern if Shirley was angry or confused or something else entirely. "Shirley, it's not what it looks like, okay? I was just trying to help Annie." 

"Oh, it's okay Britta." Shirley said, her voice calm and pleasant, yet a thin line of discomfort was threaded through each word. "It's college, people experiment. And all experiments do end eventually, and God-willing, it will end with both of you back to loving good old heterosexual relationships." 

Britta gasped, her genuine offensive over dramatized by her righteous need to be the most liberal and open person she knew. "Shirley, that's really offensive and bigoted!" She took a step towards Shirley before speaking again, her voice lowered as if telling a secret. "And I think Annie might really be a lesbian!" 

Shirley looked at her in confusion, as if the thought never crossed her mind before. "But what about Jeff? She's had a crush on him for years." 

"Well, you see, I read something online that one of the signs that you might actually be a lesbian is only developing crushes on men that are clearly unattainable, such as celebrities, or 30 year old ex lawyers who are ruggishly handsome yet emotionally unavailable." Britta smiled, smug with herself. However, Shirley looked lost, as if she was trying to recollect what her reaction should be. She frowned. 

"But, honey, that's not right. A woman should love a man, just as it says in the Bible."

"Well the Bible also says we shouldn't wear mixed fabric and anyone who touches a woman on her period is unclean, so I’m not using it to form my opinions!" Britta raised her voice, preaching her claim to Shirley, whose frown turned into a glare. "What if one of your sons turned out to be gay? What would you do then?" 

The silence that fell once Britta finished speaking was cold and still. Britta thought she might have gone too far, pushed Shirley a little too much. Maybe she couldn't make Shirley completely reevaluate her morals with one five minute conversation during a paintball game. But before Britta could apologize and suggest they should just move on and find where Annie went, she saw that Shirley was in thought. Britta held her breath, waiting for Shirley to come to a conclusion. 

"If one of my boys told me he was gay, I would still love him because he is my child and if he is gay then God made him that way for a reason." Shirley spoke confidently and calmly, yet she only looked up at Britta once she finished her thought. She smiled without bitterness or resentment . "And if Annie is a lesbian, then that's fine by me because she is still the same Annie I know and love." 

Britta stared at Shirley, not expecting such an eloquent and forgiving answer. "Holy shit, Shirley! That was beautiful!" 

"Yes, yes. Now let's go and find where Annie ran off to. That group of 12 year olds are down right vicious." Shirley moved past Britta, raising her gun out in front of her, and walking in the direction where Annie took off. Britta followed close behind, a smile way too big to have in the middle of one of their paintball games plastered on her face.

\--------

That maddening laughter Britta and Annie had heard was not a random spark of madness from one of the twelve year olds in the game with them. That laughter was intentional and earned, the boy laughing as he and his group ran into Jeff and Shirley, taking them completely off guard.

Jeff and Shirley had laid low in the underbrush for a while, waiting for any other group to cross paths with them. But the waiting got boring, and both Jeff and Shirley did not want to spend most of the game crouching in some bushes, so they stood up, thinking that they were safe, thinking that no one was around. A group of boys were near them, though, waiting for them to slip up, to reveal exactly where they were, making themselves easy targets. 

The laughter rose up from the forest around them, the noise dancing through the air towards them. Jeff brought his gun up, aiming it where he thought the laughter was coming from. The two of them began to back away, taking each step slowly, until they realized they were no longer in the trees. They had walked right out into the clearing, nowhere to hide, no idea where their enemies were. Jeff was genuinely afraid, until one of the twelve year olds stepped out from the trees, and Jeff remembered that he was facing off with children and absolutely nothing was at stake. 

Jeff raised in hands in surrender, taking a quick look at Shirley who shook her head at him, still pointing her gun at the boys. “Fine, you got us.”

The boy, the same one who had yelled at Jeff earlier, stared at him. He looked absolutely furious. He shouted at Jeff. “I’m going to make you eat paint, old man.” 

But before the boy could deliver on his threat, Shirley fired her gun, hitting the kid directly in the chest. His anger broke as he looked down at the paint now staining his shirt, a cloud of confusion taking over his face until the anger returned.

“SHOOT THEM!” The kid shouted at his friends, who were still standing dumbly on either side of him. Jeff saw them aim their guns and, with reflexes even he was surprised about, he stepped in front of Shirley as the two kids fired at them. Jeff took all the rounds they fired, shielding Shirley from the shots.

“Go, Shirley. Run, I’ll hold them off!” Jeff called, moving towards the boys who still fired at him. He saw Shirley run off into the trees again, and then he stopped moving, feeling that surely he had done his part and could now wait for the game to end in peace. 

The boys had run off, and the boy who Shirley had shot was trudging across the clearing, kicking at the grounds as he walked. Jeff stared at him for a moment, wondering where he was going since Jeff was positive the exit was not in that direction. He shrugged to himself, not caring about if the child was going to find the exit for not. It would not be his problem if that kid got lost. He only cared about whether he could find the exit. Jeff set off into the trees, walking to where he was pretty sure the exit was. 

\--------

Troy and Abed saw the whole showdown between Jeff and Shirley and the twelve year olds. They watched it from across the clearing, still perched in their tree. Seeing Jeff sacrifice himself to save Shirley was very badass, and both of them separately made a pact to do the same thing if the situation ever calls for it. Dying to protect a loved one was definitely one of the most badass ways to die, probably right after being killed by Robocop. 

“Which is better: a lunch pizza date, or a dinner pizza date?” Troy asked. He wasn’t looking at the clearing any longer, finding his attention drawn to the fake leaves hanging beside his head. He was trying to pull them off the branch. He let go of the leaf in his hand as an idea formed in his mind, a smile broke onto his face, head turning toward Abed. “I know: a breakfast pizza date!”

Abed stared at him, frowning. Troy had been talking about his potential pizza date with Greta for the past five minutes, Abed counting each passing second that he didn’t shut up about her. Abed didn’t dislike Greta; she was a fine human, and Troy did like talking to her, and about her. He seemed really happy, and Abed didn’t want to stop Troy from being happy, but Abed could not stand Troy talking about her this much. It was like he was purposely avoiding any other topic of conversation.

“Is 11 o’clock too late to have a breakfast date? Because I don’t like getting up too early, and I don’t even know when she usually wakes up. I definitely need to ask her about that when I get my phone back.” Troy rambled on, but his words died away when he realized Abed looked slightly annoyed. “Hey, Abed, you good?”

Abed blinked, the irritation slipping off of his face. “Yep.”

“Are you sure, because it kinda seems like you were annoyed for a second back there.” 

Abed looked blankly at Troy. “The past fifty conversation we’ve had have been about Greta, except when I forced us to talk about paintball, but even then, your heart really wasn’t in it. I thought a paintball game could get you to stop talking about her all the time and make you think about us again. I’m sorry if that was selfish, or if telling you this upset you.”

Troy looked at him, opening and closing his mouth from time to time, trying to find something to say. Abed’s words didn’t hurt, but they did make him feel like he just had to walk through a public area naked, way too vulnerable than he ever wanted to be. He didn’t really know what to say to that, feeling that anything he would say might come off wrong. 

“You’ve usually replied by this time, so I think that means I’ve upset you. I’m going to go talk to Jeff. I’ll see you at the end of the game.” Abed made sure his guns were secure before sliding across the branch back to the trunk of the tree. Troy didn’t say anything as Abed climbed down the tree, but he did watch Abed all the way down, only turning his head when Abed was safely on the ground. 

Abed didn’t look back up at Troy when he made it back to the ground, determined to find Jeff as quickly as possible. He was definitely annoyed at Troy for talking about Greta so much, but he wanted to discuss his frustrations with someone before doing anything further. Abed knew Jeff would be the best person to talk to, and the fact that Jeff was just killed in the game and nowhere close to finding the exit door only made him a better person to talk to.  
Guessing from the direction Jeff was walking when Abed last saw him, Abed walked in a path that would intersect Jeff’s. He found him easily.

When Jeff saw Abed, he held up a hand to silence Abed from talking. “Abed, I’m already dead. I just want to find the exit and wait for the game to be over. We can talk another time.”

“But I would rather talk now.” Abed said, following Jeff as he continued to push his way through the trees. “Just the two of us, you know.”

Jeff didn’t acknowledge he had heard Abed, simply moving through the trees, Abed close behind. He stopped suddenly, pushing a leaf sharply away from him. “Where is the fucking exit?”

“Oh, it’s in the opposite direction.”

Jeff turned around and Abed pointed a finger behind him, indicating where the exit was. Jeff gave a frustrated sigh, breathing it out slowly. “You just watched me look for the exit that you knew wasn’t here?”

“Well I want to talk to you, and I can’t do that if you find the exit.”

Jeff blinked once, taking in Abed’s logic. It was sound, a bit selfish, but nothing Jeff wouldn’t do himself. He sighed once again, this time not in frustration, but readying himself to talk with Abed. This really wasn’t in his plan for today, but he might as well let it happen. Nothing has gone to plan so far.

“What do you want to talk to me about, Abed?”

“It’s about Troy. He won’t stop talking about this girl, Greta.”

“Did you tell him you want to talk about something else?”

“I did, but then he didn’t answer, so I climbed down the tree and found you.”

Jeff was about to ask Abed why he was in a tree, especially since these plastic trees definitely shouldn’t be able to support anyone’s body weight, but he pushed past that, knowing that the structural integrity of fake trees was not the point of this conversation. 

“Well, why are you so upset about Troy talking about Greta? Do you not like her?” Jeff asked, trying to get a grip on the situation. If Jeff had to work out somebody else’s problems for them, he might as well understand what he was dealing with. 

“It’s not that. Greta is great. She’s smart and makes Troy laugh and is interesting to talk to.”

“So you’re jealous of Troy. You want Greta for yourself?” Jeff asked. It didn’t seem like the right answer, but he doesn’t understand Abed all the time, so if he has a crush on the girl his friend likes, then Jeff wasn’t going to judge. He’d been in that situation plenty of times.

But Abed frowned at Jeff’s suggestion. “I’m not jealous of Troy. I'm jealous of Greta. She is the only thing Troy thinks about, or talks about, and he is constantly texting her. I just want things to go back to how they were before: A Greta-less life.”

“Oh,” Jeff said, not sure how to respond further. Jeff had always been hesitant to inspect Troy and Abed’s relationship, or even speculate on it. He had heard Britta theorize about it many times before, but, wanting to respect people’s privacy and not wanting to entice anyone into looking at his personal life, Jeff always refused to humor Britta in her theories. But, now that Abed is standing in front of him, telling him he is jealous of a girl Troy is into, Jeff couldn’t help but look at Troy and Abed’s friendship in a new light. “Do you like Troy, Abed?”

Abed is silent for a beat, thinking. “I’ve always liked Troy. He’s my best friend. And I like you too, Jeff.”

Jeff sighed. He knew Abed understood what he meant by “like”, but if Abed was going to be purposefully obtuse, Jeff wasn’t going to waste time and humor him. “Do you think that maybe you don’t want Troy to date Greta because you don’t want Troy to date anyone? You don’t want Troy to put all his love and attention on to a relationship that isn’t yours?”

Abed looked at Jeff with a hard stare. “But what do I do about that?”

“I think you should tell him.”

Abed looked away, taking a moment to consider that possibility. Jeff pointing out Abed’s feelings did not come as a surprise. In a way, Abed always knew what this conversation would come down to, but he always stopped himself from thinking about telling Troy. Abed had time to sit with his feelings, come to terms with them, but also realize that Troy is his best friend and his friendship with him was the most important thing in his life. There was a slim possibility that if Abed told Troy how he felt, then their entire relationship would change. Though it was most likely Troy’s reaction would not be that drastic, that slim chance was unbearable to think about. But Abed trusted Jeff, trusted him to give him advice that wouldn’t ruin his life. If Jeff thought Abed telling Troy about his feelings was a bad decision to make, then he would have never suggested it.

“Thanks, Jeff.” Abed said, finally looking back to Jeff. 

Jeff smiled, genuinely happy for Abed. Just because he refused to speculate on the nature of Troy and Abed’s relationship didn’t mean he didn’t think they would be a cute couple. 

“Go get him, champ.” Jeff clasped Abed’s shoulder, giving him one more smile before letting go. Abed smiled back, before he nodded and turned, ready to start his trek back to Troy.

Abed took a few steps before he stopped and turned back to Jeff, who was already heading his own way. “Jeff, the exit is that way.”

Jeff looked over, seeing Abed pointing off into the trees in a direction that was not the one he was walking in. “Thanks, Abed.”

Abed nodded and continued on his way, disappearing into the brush. Jeff turned around and headed, for the first time, in the direction of the exit.

It didn’t take that long until Jeff heard another sound crashing through the trees. He rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in a surrender. "Look, man, I've already been shot. I’m just trying to find the exit" 

Then, Annie barreled out of the trees, slamming into Jeff. It knocked him back a few steps, and when he regained his balance, he was very pissed off.

"Jesus, you too? I am not even in the game anymore!" But Annie didn't look up when he talked. She didn't even stop moving, already pushing passed Jeff. He could tell she was crying, her face purposefully hidden from view. Jeff dropped his exasperation, growing worried for Annie. He walked after her, reaching out to place a hand on her arm, turning her around.

"Annie, you alright?"

She looked at him and nodded her head in an almost frantic manner. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be? It's not like Britta was harassing me about my sexuality until I kissed her and then Shirley saw so I ran away. That would be insane."

Jeff's concern turned quickly into confusion. "You kissed Britta? Why?"

"She told me to!"

"When did we start listening to what Britta tells us to do?"

Annie went silent, her arms crossed tightly, lips pressed together. "She kept saying that I'm a lesbian, which I'm not! And then she said to just kiss her and prove her wrong, but frankly I don't know what me kissing her would have even proved."

"But you did kiss her."

"Because she wouldn't shut up about me being a lesbian!"

"Pierce has been calling me gay ever since we met him, and it doesn't send me running away from our friends and kissing any guy who so much as offers." Jeff said, trying not to sound like a dick. He really was worried about Annie and how worked up she was, but he also needed her to just stop lying to herself. "I really hate to admit this, but I think Britta might be on to something."

Annie gasped, her mouth flying open in shock. "Jeff, I am not a lesbian." Annie said definitely, stressing the word not. She was shaking slightly.

"Why did you kiss Britta?" Jeff asked, his expression neutral. 

The two stared at each other for what felt like an hour, Annie holding Jeff's gaze intently. The silence was tense, but an answer was growing more urgent by the second as the sound of gunshots grew ever closer. Jeff had no desire to be shot by any more paintballs, and he would not have Annie lose the game because of a sexuality crisis. Jeff took a breath, steadying himself, ready to get this over with.

"Annie, if you are a lesbian, it doesn't matter. No one will look at you any differently, not even Shirley. We are a family, and real families don't leave because of who you love; they stick with you through thick and thin and never stop loving you. So what if you like women! Based off of my last conversation with Abed, I am positive he is in love with Troy. And I've hooked up with men before, because why would I limit this body to only one gender? You wouldn't be the only one in this group who would be gay, and you already have our unending support no matter what. So if you are a lesbian, I want to say I'm proud of you and I love you, and you have absolutely nothing to worry about."

Annie's face softened, eyes growing wide and tearful. Jeff gave her a look of support, of understanding, a small smile growing on his lips. At the smile, Annie seemed to deflate, the ridged tension she was holding herself with collapsing.

Annie closed her eyes as she nodded her head, a tear slipping past her eyelid and falling down her face. "I think I am- you know- a lesbian."

Jeff took a step forward and pulled her into a hug. She let her face be crushed to Jeff’s chest, wrapping her arms around him, They stayed like that for a while. Annie wasn’t crying or running away, so Jeff counted that as a win. He didn’t expect his speech to immediately help Annie work through her problems enough to come out to him, but he was glad it did, because he cared about her and needed her to be happy.

After slightly longer than a reasonable amount of time two people should hug during a paintball game, Annie pulled away, turning her head up at Jeff. She had a sly smile on her lips. “Wait, you’ve hooked up with men?”

Jeff pushed Annie away from him. “If you tell Britta, I will make your life a living hell.”

“Hey, no problem with me,” Annie said, throwing her hands up. “I don’t want to give Britta any more incentive to dig into people’s sexualities. That is one area she should not touch.”

They laughed, feeling a bit more at ease with each other. After knowing each other for years, they still had things to learn about each other. While that concept seemed scary and isolating, the soulsucking knowledge that you will never truly be known even by your closest friends, there was also the prospect of the discovery to look forward to, of learning more about these people who you hold so dear to your heart. It may be true that no one will ever know everything about you, and you will never know everything about another person, but to know you will continue to surprise each other, continue to learn new things about the other person, that makes it all worth it. 

\--------

After Abed left, Troy stayed in the tree for a few minutes. He felt sad, really sad, and disappointed in himself. He should have realized how much time he spent talking about Greta. And he should have realized that Abed was upset, because what kind of best friend doesn’t notice when the other one is upset?

Most of all, Troy was sad that Abed was upset in the first place. He didn’t like seeing Abed upset. It didn’t happen often, but whenever it did, Troy always felt like he could have done more to prevent it from happening, even when he had no control over the situation. But Troy did have control over this situation, complete control, and instead of realizing he was fucking up, he went and ruined a perfectly good paintball game. 

Troy climbed down from the tree after enough time to simmer in his emotions. He didn’t feel like playing paintball anymore, the game seeming to have lost its magic once Abed left. All Troy wanted to do was find Abed and apologize. And once he did that, he wanted to find his phone and text Greta he had to cancel the date.

Troy was so caught up in his head that he didn’t even notice the boys approaching him. The 12 year olds followed Troy, watching him walk through the trees and the plants absentmindedly away from him. Troy wasn’t even holding his guns anymore, resigned to let them swing beside his legs as they hung from their straps. 

The boys didn’t make any attempt at sneaking, letting their feet fall heavy on the ground as they whispered to themselves. But no matter the noise they made, Troy didn’t look back, didn’t seem to register anything was wrong. After the boys realized Troy wasn’t going to notice them, one of them signaled for his friends to stop.

“Hey, asshole, turn around. I want to see your face when I shoot you.”

One of the boys fired a paintball at Troy. It missed, splattering on the tree beside Troy instead of his back. That made Troy stop and slowly turn around, his hand reaching for one of his guns.

“No way. Put your hands up, man.” The boy shouted at him.

Troy raised his hands in surrender with a sigh. If this had been ten minutes ago, Troy would have been searching for a way out of there, debating whether he could make a break for it by diving into a bush. But now, Troy felt defeated even before the paint hit his clothes. He just wanted to find Abed, not be trapped by the 12 year old boys who already ruined their paintball plans. 

“Just shoot me. I don’t care.” Troy said, making the boys scowl at him, as if his apathy was sucking the fun out of life. 

“Aren’t you going to even try to run away? Make it a little interesting for us?”

“No. I’m pretty sad right now, so if you could just get it over with and then I could go find my friend, that would be great.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you? FIGHT BACK!” The boy screamed at Troy, shaking his gun at him.

Before anyone could do anything, three shots rang out from the trees, followed by three splatters of paint on each of the three 12 year old boys. The boys looked dumbfounded at their misfortune, each touching the paint stain like they couldn’t believe they were hit.

Then, from above, Abed dropped out of a tree, landing between the boys and Troy, his gun poised at the kids. 

“Get out of here. This game is only for people without paint on their clothes.” Abed said, glaring at the boys. 

“Fuck you. Paintball is lame, anyways.” The boys all drop their weapons on the ground and stomp off into the trees, muttering angrily amongst themselves.

Once the boys were gone, Troy sprung to life, his previous apathy melting away into joy once again. “Abed! You came back!”

Abed turned to face Troy, but where Troy expected to see a smile, he saw a serious expression. Troy’s smile fell away as sadness and regret flooded in.

“I’m sorry, Abed. I’m sorry for talking about Greta all the time, and texting her all the time, and completely ignoring this awesome paintball game you thought up. I’ve been a shitty best friend these past few days. How about we just go home and have a Star Trek marathon for the next couple of days?”

Troy brought his hands up, ready to do their handshake, but Abed didn’t move. Troy dropped his arms, his concern growing.

“Abed?”

“Do you want to go on a date?” Abed asked, and as Troy looked confused, he quickly added: “With me.” 

“A date?”

“Yeah. We can go get pizza tomorrow. We can even get breakfast pizza for dinner, if you want. You seemed really excited about a breakfast pizza date earlier.”

Troy stared at him in confusion, trying to form a single coherent thought to reply with. “But we’re friends. Friends don’t date; only people in relationships go on dates.”

“Do you want to be in a relationship with me?” Abed asked simply.

This stopped Troy’s thought process cold. It was not a confusing question; Troy understood it perfectly, but that was where the problem lied. He knew exactly what Abed was asking him, what exactly it meant, but Troy couldn’t bring himself to believe it was real. It’s not that he fantasized about Abed asking him out, though it would be a lie to say he never thought about it once or twice. But having Abed stand there and ask him felt surreal, like he should be waking up from a very vivid dream any second.

But he didn’t wake up, and the question still hung between them, unanswered. Abed continued staring at him in the most familiar way, a way that Troy first thought of as invasive, but now felt comforted by.

A smile formed slowly on Troy’s face, cautious, hesitant. “You’re not joking, right Abed. Pierce didn’t set you up to this?”

“Nope.”

Troy let out a breath of a laugh, as if dreams were coming true. “Well, then of course I want to date you!”

Abed perked up, his own smile matching Troy’s. This time, as Troy raised his arms for their handshake, Abed did it with him, their movements in sync once again.

“Let’s go find the others and get this paintball game over with.” Troy said, a new bounce in his step as he began walking. Abed followed, falling into step beside him. As they walked, Troy grabbed Abed’s hand, holding it between them. Holding hands during a paintball game was poor strategy, but Troy and Abed didn’t care.

\--------

While Troy and Abed reconnected, Jeff and Annie came across the two remaining 12 year olds. Annie, using Jeff as a human shield, took both of them out quite easily. Jeff, however, was pissed, having gotten hit by ten more rounds of paintballs. 

“That is it! I’m done! I am finding this exit and waiting for the game to end outside of this horrible business.” Jeff huffed and left Annie standing in the trees.

“Jeff! Come on!” Annie called out, but Jeff ignored her. He had had enough of the fake trees and plants and getting hit by paint while he was already dead. All he wanted to do was relax in whatever shitty chair was in the lobby of this building and wait for the others to kill each other. 

Jeff had walked for less than a minute when Shirley and Britta crossed paths with him and immediately shot him. This time, Jeff let out a frustrated scream. Shirley watched on in horror, while Britta held the smoking gun in her hand, still pointed at Jeff.

“You okay there, buddy?” Britta asked once Jeff stopped screaming and seemed to no longer want to rip Britta's head off.

“I have been dead for almost the entire game, and yet I am still getting shot at. If everyone could have just work out their own problems then I would have found the fucking exit and be out of this stupid fake forest by now.” Jeff said, pushing at the foliage around him in anger. 

Britta’s face lit up at Jeff’s admission to helping people work out problems. “ Whose problems did you help work out? Was it Annie’s?”

“No, I talked to one of the twelve year olds about their unaddressed rage issues.” Jeff said, coldly.

Britta over exaggerated her frown, half hoping it would work to guilt Jeff into telling her, but Jeff simply rolled his eyes at it. Shirley patted Britta’s shoulder with all the kindness in the world.

“Just let it go, Britta. Annie will come around when she is ready. There’s no ally-ship in forcing someone to come out. In fact, I think that would be considered more homophobic then not.” Shirley said sweetly.

“I just want her to live her true life unrestricted by the closet!”

“Woah. Okay. I never thought I would say this, but Shirley is right about the homophobia in what you are doing.” Jeff said, half shocked by how open and supportive Shirley was being about gayness. Britta must have done something between Shirley seeing Annie kissing Britta and now. 

But before Jeff could even start to regret bringing himself into the crossfire, Britta turned her intense progressiveness onto Jeff. “Oh yeah, what do you know about calling out homophobia. I’ve been an ally to the gay community for years. Shirley just became one, and I’ve never seen you try to stop homophobia. How do I know you’re not homophobic?”

Britta crossed her arms smugly, as if her argument ended the entire discussion on the possible homophobia in her actions. Jeff sighed, running a hand down his face. Arguing with Britta on this particular subject was the top thing on his “Never Debate with Britta” list, followed closely by literally every other subject imaginable.

“Britta, I’m going to find the exit. You go find Annie and apologize. You really upset her today.” Jeff moved past Britta and Shirley, feeling as if this time he might finally be able to reach the god forsaken exit. But Britta had a different idea, one that did not include Jeff getting the fuck out of there.

“So you’re just dodging my question, then? Don’t want to lie about not being homophobic, you homophobe.”

“Just leave him be, Britta.” Shirley pleaded, pulling on Britta’s arm. But Britta just shook her off, standing her ground against Jeff, who had turned and now faced her.

“What’s your answer, Jeff?”

“Jesus Christ, Britta. No, I’m not homophobic.”

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

Jeff closed his eyes, debating the pros and cons of if he just started running. There was no end to this, and he knew it. It would go on in circles until Britta would find one small thing to call homophobia and confidently be right in her misjudged opinion. 

There was only one way Jeff knew would get Britta off his ass, at least for a little while. It would not end the conversation, but it sure would give Britta pause, probably enough for Jeff to safely get away. “Britta, I’m not homophobic. I’m bisexual, okay? Now can I please go?”

Whatever confidence Britta had suddenly fell away. Out of all the people she speculated about their sexuality, Jeff had never been one. She always assumed he was straight, given everything she knew about him. This shock caused her to reevaluate her speculations, realizing the stereotypes she always defaulted to in guessing who was gay and who wasn’t were just perpetuating harmful ideas about a marginalized group of people. 

Britta blinked, looking over Jeff in a new light. “Really?”

“Yep. Now, I’ll see you at the end of the game.”

Jeff walked calmly away from them, leaving Britta a bit dumbfounded and Shirley even more confused than before. Britta turned to Shirley.

“I think what I did to Annie today was offensive.” Britta said, shame and regret filling her voice. Shirley nodded with sympathy.

“Yes, it was,” Shirley said. Britta frowned, not expecting that that would be Shirley’s response. “Let’s go find Annie so you can apologize.”

They didn’t need to walk that far to find Annie. She was waiting for them, standing at the edge of the clearing, watching them make their way noisily through the trees. As they passed her position, Annie moved silently into the trees, sneaking up behind the pair. 

“Turn around slowly and no one will get shot.” Annie threatened, pointing her gun at them. Shirley and Britta did as she said, turning slowly with their hands in the air. Annie didn’t smile at them, keeping a hard glare in their direction. The glare was partially fueled by the game, but also fueled by Annie’s displeasure with Britta.

“Annie! I’m so sorry about what happened! I didn’t mean to hurt you in any way, but if I did, I’m sorry.” Britta apologized immediately. Her expression matched her words: a look of shame and regret. 

Annie softened for a moment, her gun beginning to lower, but then she hardened again, remembering that Britta did make her cry. “I appreciate your apology, but you did really hurt me and I can’t forgive you right now.”

“Oh,” Britta looked down. She wasn’t going to argue with Annie, or plead for her to forgive her. Britta now knew what she did was wrong, and she deserved to be punished. 

“Talk to me in an hour. I might be ready to forgive you then.” Annie added, the corner of her mouth ticking up into a smile as Britta looked up excitedly.

“Annie,” Shirley said, her hands still raised in a surrender. “Are you going to shoot us now? Because I would really like to put my arms down.”

“Oh, yeah,” Annie said, cheerily. She fired a single round into each of their chests, and then fired another one into Britta’s chest. Britta flinched as the paintball hit her, but accepted that she deserved it.

Shirley gratefully lowered her arms and tossed her gun and ammo onto the ground. Annie scanned the trees around them, squirting into the leaves, trying to see if she could see anything.

“Do you guys know where Troy and Abed are? I think they’re the only ones left.”

Before anyone could respond, there was movement in the trees above them. Annie looked up on instinct, pointing her up towards the tree branches. But as she looked up, Abed and Troy dropped out of the trees ten feet on either side of Annie. They were quick to draw, but Annie was quicker. She rapidly swiveled her position, moving from pointing upwards to pointing at Abed, firing a single round at him before he could even pull his trigger.

For a moment after Annie shot Abed, a bright pink stain appearing front and center on his shirt, all was silent. Britta and Shirley, innocent bystanders at this point, held their breaths, watching the action spread out before them. Annie hesitated, still looking in Abed’s direction, momentarily forgetting about Troy behind her, admiring her sharp shooting.

And then Troy let out a battle cry, breaking the stillness of the moment, and charged at Annie. She turned in time to see Troy running at her, a passionate anger on his face. Annie gasped as Troy aimed his gun at her as he ran, and fired, the paintball hitting Annie again and again. She took the fire admirably, acting out a dramatic stumble backwards and a fall, landing sprawled out on her back.

Troy came to a stop above her, looking her in the eye, still pointing his gun at her, finger on the trigger. “That’s what you get for shooting the man I love.” Troy emphasized his point by firing one more round into Annie and throwing his gun on the ground.

There was a beat where everyone stayed still, caught up in the drama of the scene, the sheer intensity of the game. And then the tension, the drama, was gone. Troy smiled and helped Annie to her feet, Abed joining them as they began to walk towards the exit, the three congratulating themselves on a good game. Shirley followed after, happy and content with how the game played out. She wasn’t too mad she didn’t win, just glad they didn’t lose to a bunch of children. 

Britta was slow to follow them out, hesitating as she played over Troy’s line in her head. She was pretty confident it was not a movie reference, but knowing him and Abed, it could be a reference to some movie no one has ever heard about. But Britta couldn’t let it go, wanting to know just exactly what it meant.

Britta caught up with the group quickly, sneaking in to walk beside Troy.

“So, Troy,” Britta said, nudging him with her elbow. “That final line you said back there. What was that about?”

“What line?”

“You know, the ‘That’s what you get for shooting the man I love’ line.” Britta said, imitating how Troy said it: all deep and dramatic and tragic. Troy casts an uninterest look at her.

“It was about Abed. Duh.”

Britta took a moment, trying to think at best how to go about this. She glanced at Annie, who was walking happily with Abed in front of them. Britta already hurt one of her friends today by pressuring them about their sexuality, and no matter how much Britta wanted to keep pushing and pushing, getting all the answers she possibly could, she did not want to hurt Troy. 

“I guess I just never heard you say you loved him like that.” Britta said, watching Troy closely. 

Troy shrugged, not even taking any notice in how intently Britta was focused on this. He was mostly just watching Abed talk with Annie.

“Troy,” Britta said, getting Troy’s attention again. He looked at Britta, a questioning look on his face. “Do you love Abed?”

“Well, yeah. We’re dating now, so I sure hope I love him.” Troy said, as if Britta’s question was the dumbest thing she could have said.

“Oh, so you two are together. That’s nice,” Shirley said, overhearing their conversation. Her comment was completely genuine, accompanied by a pleasant smile. “How long has that been a thing?”

“About ten minutes, I think.” Troy told them casually.

Shirley and Britta exchanged a look, one of not quite knowing how to respond. On one hand, it was good it wasn’t a long time, not days or weeks of them being together and no one noticed. But it was still shocking to find out two of your friends started dating in the middle of a paintball game. Britta didn’t push it, satisfied with what he told her, and not wanting to demand information Troy didn’t want to give.

With Abed leading the way, the five of them found the exit in no time. They opened the door, exiting into the secondary room before finally making their way back into the lobby of the building. 

“There you guys are. I thought you might have actually died in there.” Jeff said, pushing himself out of the very uncomfortable chairs that lined the walls of the lobby. They walked towards him as he greeted them.

“We should get dinner,” Shirley suggested, checking the time. It was well past 5 o’clock at this point, the game lasting longer than any of them realized, and now they were all starkly aware of how hungry they were. “I know a great place near here.”

“That sounds good to me. Everyone else good?” Jeff said. The rest of the group nodded their responses, agreeing wholeheartedly. “Great. Let’s get out of here.”

Jeff led the way out along with Shirley, both having wanted to get out of the building the second they stepped into it. They were well past the point in their lives where frequenting crappy businesses seemed fun. 

As they walked to the car across the empty parking lot, Troy and Abed fell in line with each other. Troy grabbed Abed’s hand, enjoying how right it felt to hold his hand. He swung their clasped hands as they walked, in an almost childish manner. Abed let him, periodically glancing over to Troy. It felt nice to be in a relationship with him, like it was always meant to be, like it was fate. Abed smiled at that thought.

Britta walked behind the group, keeping her distance. She had apologized to Annie, and she knew Annie was going to forgive her in time, but she still felt shitty. In her push to be progressive, she stopped thinking about personal feelings. She took that idea that no one should be stuck in the closet and blew it out of proportion, applying the ideology too directly. Britta could see the offense in her actions, the hurt she caused by wanting to do what she thought was best, not considering the feelings of others. People shouldn’t feel trapped in the closet, but the key to fixing that issue does not rest in forcing individual people out of the closet; it rests in changing the public mindset and prejudice around marginalized people. 

Britta kicked at the ground as she walked, not frustrated, but regretful she didn’t see the harm in her actions until it was too late. But this was a good learning opportunity for Britta, and she took everything to heart, never wanting to hurt her friends again.

“Hey, slowpoke, hurry up.”

Britta looked to her left and blinked in surprised, not expecting Annie to be there.

“Oh, right. Yeah.” Britta fumbled on her words, picking up her pace from a slow drag of her feet to an actual walking pace. 

Annie kept in pace with her, not leaving her side. Britta kept glancing over at Annie, not understanding what brought Annie to be friendly again. Annie noticed the constant looks from Britta so she playfully bumped into Britta, signifying that everything was alright, that she had forgiven her. Britta’s face lit up as she saw Annie smile.

Britta shoved Annie back, trying to be playful but executing the shove a bit too hard. But Annie rolled with it, because that was who Britta was: someone who tried to constantly do good, but sometimes the execution wasn’t perfect. Britta wasn’t flawless, and made many mistakes, but Annie loved that about her. Part of friendship is accepting people as who they are, not trying to change it, and not wanting to because you grow to love the person, flaws and all.

The six of them piled back into Jeff’s car, smiles resting on each of their faces. That game of paintball was not one of their bests, nor was it even one of their most memorable games, but it did allow them all to grow closer with each other, to reexamine just exactly what they loved about each other, and how lucky they all were to have friends like the ones they found.


End file.
